AlexJones

Can't agree with that. They have 89 years of history! It's not their fault that the closed-shop SFA wouldn't allow Highland clubs to compete in the Senior Leagues until relatively recently. I don't have a problem with clubs like County and their ilk (Gretna is a more fitting comparison than Chelsea ). It's the benefactors who grind my gears. Think of all the philanthropic causes guys like Brooks Mileson and Roy MacGregor could be spending their money on. Imagine all the things they could be building for their local communities with the money they blow on football. It's tragic.

The first half was the best we've played since the corresponding fixture at the end of last season. Terrific stuff. As others have said, we should've gone in at least 4 goals in front. As usual, Aberdeen were jammy as feck against us and the scoreline flattered them. Their goal came from virtually their first effort on goal, a scrappy corner (cheaply given away by Devine) which was bundled in as Fon Williams was fouled. From that point on Aberdeen's whole gameplan seemed to consist of lumping high balls into our box. Surprisingly, and deservedly, we managed to hold firm. Christie's transfer value has gone up a few hundred thousand on todays performance alone! An assist and a goal fit to grace El Classico. Dave the Rave was outstanding at the back, keeping Hayes quiet and also providing decent support on the right flank in attack. He's having his best season for us IMO. Hopefully a few more years yet before he leaves us for the music business. Miles Story also impressed. He has the running power of Marly Watkins and the finishing touch of Billy McKay. Quality signing. When he tired I would have preferred we gave Sutherland a runout. Mutombo doesn't have the pace to race in behind from the halfway line. Playing him as a lone striker on the last man didn't work. Every time we got the ball forward it kept coming back. Taylor and Consodine were tired, isolated and pushed up to the halfway line. Sutherland would have caused those lumbering carthorses all kinds of problems with any ball played over the top, just like he did late on against Saint Johnstone. A minor gripe in an otherwise excellent performance. Keep up the good work lads!

Lot's of lads have missed the boat. It's a buyers market. I reckon the club should show some enterprise - rather than paying a wage, we should CHARGE players to join our squad. Think of it as an internship. We give ambitious wannabe pro-footballers from far and wide a platform to train and showcase their skills, and they pay us for the privilege.

It's early doors but with both ICT and County in the quarter finals, what odds of a Highland derby final? That might even top last season.

Have you been to 'Speronis' restaurant OP? He used to be somewhat of a cult hero when he was in Scottish football, playing in one of the most bonkers teams in living memory - Dundees Bonetti Revolution! Imagine the likes of Claudio Cannigia, Fabrizio Ravanelli and Attilio Lombardo - playing alongside the likes of Jamie Lanagfield, Graham Bayne and Barry Smith. Crazy stuff. Good to see him still doing well down there for Palace.

So basically Dundee United have been playing tosh all season and this should be our easiest fixture so far... In my experience whenever we expect to win we get humped, so I'm going for 4-0 Dundee United.

Where does he go now? The manner of the defeat means very few of the bigger promoters will see him as a money drawing opponent. One silver lining though, he barely took any punishment and wasn't seriously hurt. It was a good early stoppage from the ref IMO. Some will be writing him off, but his only defeat has come from a potentially world class opponent (who Wlad Klitschko rates as the best heavyweight prospect for 25 years). The fight clearly came too soon for him. The step up in class between Joshua and his previous opponents was too steep. But it was too good an opportunity to turn down. He's still young and healthy enough to rebuild. Hopefully he keeps grafting and gets some more big money fights down the line.

Diving to win a penalty, or simulating to get a player booked when they haven't hurt you are both unacceptable IMO. However, the incident in question doesn't fall into either of those categories. The Hearts player threw a punch (though not a very good one) and deserved to be sent off - he was not cheated. If the roles were reversed I wouldn't have any complaints about the decision.

Williams Raven Meekings Devine Williams Wedderburn Christie Draper Vigurs Lopez Story

Cumbernauld Colts It's about time a Highland League side had a decent run. Especially with all the £££ sploshing around there these days.

Sucking up to the fans of your new club is just part of the job. Everyone on here used to love it when Butcher talked up Inverness in the media. Hopefully Ryan keeps his head down and goes on to fulfil his potential on the big stage. Then again, a 20 year old, living in Glasgow, on £7k a week, with new found fame - it's easy to see how so many talented youngsters careers have gone off the rails at the Old Firm.

With Celtic just receiving £11.5 million for Van Dijk, and their fans up in arms demanding more investment in the team, this would have been an extremely auspicious time for ICT to play hardball. The pressure was on the Celtic board. Having already stated their interest in Christie, missing out on his signature by lowballing Inverness over an extremely modest £1 million transfer fee (by Celtic's standards) would have been a huge embarrassment.

Newcastle the Sevco International of the EPL. I reckon this could be a year of upsets. With all the extra money coming into the league, the top 4 is much harder to call. Other than Man City, all the other big names have looked decidedly mediocre thus far.

About time this lad was given his own song.

If Scottish football managers have a problem with soft red cards ruining games, the first thing they should do is tell their players to stop play acting. Hearts are as bad as anyone in this regard. They deserve no sympathy.

Have to agree with that one. Probably a sentimental decision from Butcher to give his buddy one last big deal after all their years working together. Richie delivered for Butcher, and Butcher delivered for Richie. Seems fair enough, although maybe not such good business from the club's perspective! To be fair, he certainly didn't look 'past it' before his injury, so he might still come back into the team and make a significant contribution. Since this thread is about looking on the bright side - we've had a terrible start but we aren't isolated at the bottom. In fact, one win would have us knocking on the door of the top 6. We've also now seen enough of the SPL to discern that most of the other teams aren't any better than us.

Couldn't disagree more. He's put in a solid graft since he's come into the team, and shown flashes of quality. If he was 28 and had 400 games under his belt, fair enough. But we're talking about an inexperienced 20 year old who's barely had any first team football. Of course he's going to make mistakes. Give the lad a break. He's only going to get better.

Desperate stuff from Hibs. Sounds like Stubbs is in full panic mode already. To be fair, so are we, but at least we're not trying to sign John Daly.

Almost every team in the SPL is dirty. I actually thought Motherwell were worse than Hamilton. The leniency of the referee was the problem on Saturday. Teams are normally only as dirty as they're allowed to be. A couple of yellows for wreckless challenges / hoofing the ball away early doors would have nipped it in the bud. PS If you think Hamilton are bad, just wait till we play Hearts. As for McKinnon, I think he tends to stick out more because... how can I put this... the boy has a face that you don't tend to forget. He looks like he's just wandered off the set of 'the scheme'. One thing I noticed about him last season, he literally looks on the verge of tears for most of the match. His whole game seems to be based on sledging the other team and gurning to the referee. You can picture him banging his head off the dressing room door before the game trying to psyche himself up. Maybe that's why he looks the way he does.

First half we were the better team and probably should have had the game wrapped up. Second half we were absolutely dreadful. As against Motherwell and Celtic, the goals were of the soft variety. I'm all for the passing game, but there's a time and a place. Right now we have a makeshift team full of guys playing out of position. Why are we still trying to play like Barcelona? Almost every goal we've conceded recently has been self inflicted. Overplaying under pressure and turning over possession in a dangerous area. Today was no different. The team is completely unbalanced. Last year we outplayed Hamilton at their own physical game. They were outmuscled by Drapes and Vincent in the midfield battle. We're seriously missing those 2 guys in the middle. Tansey, Polworth and Vigurs are all too similar to play in the same team IMO. We need runners / battlers in there. Unsurprising then that our play was lethargic and slow, and Hamilton won almost every 50-50 and second ball in the second half (until Wedderburn and Horner were introduced). As others have said, it's worrying that Yogi doesn't appear to have a plan B. We've become far too predictable and one dimensional. It's looking like we're going to be battling against relegation this year. Desperate times require desperate measures. Sometimes you need to ditch idealism and go with pragmatism. Until our injury crisis abates, let's ease up on the Barcelona stuff. Especially around our own 18 yard box! When under pressure, hoof it up the park and scrap for second balls. If it's good enough for Van Gaal and Mourinho teams - it should be good enough for us!

Surprised Ricky Sbragia still has a job after the Jack Harper debacle.

Only a matter of time before Rory McAlister plays at a higher level. He's been knocking on the door for a while. Last nights display will be attracting a lot of attention. Falkirk are no mugs. We could have used him in the Scottish Cup Final! Would be great to have him back at Inverness.

Another midfielder. Yogi will shock the world with his revolutionary 0-10-0 formation.

Agree with this. Lopez seems to be the whipping boy at the minute, but for me Tansey has been the biggest passenger. His work rate is nowhere near good enough. Polworth and Horner have a fraction of his experience, but contributed far more than Tansey yesterday. For a guy who can strike a ball as well as anyone, his lack of goals and assists is disappointing. Vigurs created more off the bench than Tansey did in our last 2 home games. With the ability he has, you'd have to say he's massively underachieving.

Positives - Top class performance from the full backs. Williams looks every bit as good as Shinnie. - Owain Fon Williams was terrific again. - Polworth and Horner put in a great shift. - Vigurs looks promising. Hard to be too negative with a clean sheet and a point against a bogey team. We certainly rode our luck at the back at times but got away with it. The big downer has to be the lack of action in the final third for the first 85 minutes. Christie had an off night. Mutombo showed some decent touches, but no end product. Lopez looked isolated, and bereft of confidence. The bottom line is, we've scored 1 goal in 7 and a half hours of football. Not good enough.